Rodrigo Malmierca Says Cuba will Work Hard as Head of ECLAC

HAVANA, Cuba, May 11 (ACN) Cuba's Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment, Rodrigo Malmierca said on Friday in Havana that the Caribbean island is committed and will support the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

The Cuban official closed Friday's session of the 37th period of sessions of the regional entity, which included turning over ECLAC's pro tempore presidency to the Caribbean nation, and two of its subsidiary institutions: South-South Cooperation Committee and the Forum of Latin American and Caribbean Countries on Sustainable Development.

Before the presence of the Executive Secretary of ECLAC, Alicia Barcena and the General Vice Secretary of the UN, Amina Mohammed, the Cuban Minister assured that Cuba will work hard and responsible in the next two years, giving privilege to the Caribbean nations, the most vulnerable in the area.

We will work to achieve the articulation of national strategies, define clear and reachable goals on the regional level adopting solid united commitments together with ECLAC, he said.

According to Rodrigo Malmierca, other challenges for ECLAC in the next two years is to look for alternatives to face the tensions of globalization and the unsustainability of the reigning economic model, bury schemes that foments poverty and inequality, taking advantage of the possibilities of the technological revolution and face the challenges of climate change.

It would be a great success, said Malmierca, if all the countries are able to comply with the goals of Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development approved by the UN General Assembly in September of 2015.

During the week, 46 member States of the Commission and its 13 associates analyzed complex issues, among them the inefficiency of inequality, importance of multilateralism and South-South cooperation.

The sessions included the approval of 18 documents, among them a working program of the entity for 2020 and its eight subsidiary entities.

Cuba hosted the period of sessions of the Commission for the first time since the triumph of the Revolution.

The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres participated in the inauguration of the event.